Founding CTO

Purpose of the Role

Lead all technological aspects of the startup, from strategy to hands-on execution.

Build a scalable, secure, and efficient technology infrastructure while aligning technology with the company’s strategic goals.

This is an equity-based founding role, requiring significant hands-on contribution in a zero-to-one Pre-Seed/Seed environment.

Strategic & Architectural Leadership

• Define technology vision, strategy, and roadmap
• Make architectural decisions (tech stack, cloud, integrations)
• Lead design of scalable, secure platforms, including AI/LLM-powered products

AI, LLM & RAG Development

• Implement AI/LLM features, including chatbots, intelligent automation, and RAG pipelines
• Evaluate, integrate, and maintain state-of-the-art AI/ML solutions
• Stay up-to-date with emerging AI technologies

Product Delivery & Design Systems

• Drive end-to-end product development: specification, development
• Maintain scalable Design Systems and ensure high-quality, consistent UI/UX (pixel-level polish, no broken flows)
• Balance speed with engineering rigor to enable rapid iteration

Team Building & Leadership

• Assemble and mentor multi-disciplinary teams (Backend, Frontend, DevOps, AI/ML, Product)
• Foster a culture of ownership, continuous learning, and collaboration

System Integrity & Performance

• Ensure Security by Design, compliance with international standards
• Optimize system performance, scalability, and uptime
• Manage technology budget efficiently (cloud, infrastructure, tools, LLM usage)

Cross-Functional Collaboration

• Communicate technical decisions clearly to business stakeholders
• Lead rapid PoCs and prototype development for AI-driven features
• Align engineering priorities with product and business goals

Experience & Education

• 8–12 years in software development, 3–5 years in senior leadership (Tech Lead, VP R&D, CTO)
• Experience in early-stage startups (Pre-Seed/Seed) highly preferred
• Hands-on experience with AI/ML, LLMs, RAG, and production-grade systems
• Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or related field; advanced degree optional

Technical Skills

• Backend development (Python, Node.js, Go, Java)
• Cloud architectures (AWS, GCP, Azure) and scalable APIs (REST/GraphQL)
• CI/CD, Docker, Kubernetes, observability, logging, metrics
• Experience with AI/ML frameworks, LLM APIs, RAG pipelines, vector databases

Personal Qualities

• Entrepreneurial, hands-on, and highly accountable (“owner mentality”)
• Strong intellectual curiosity, rapid self-learning, and continuous exploration of new technologies
• Excellent communicator; able to translate technical decisions to business terms
• Comfortable in fast-changing environments and ambiguity